God, please help me not to be my parents

Archive for the ‘pictures’ Category

I can’t tell you what happened at the Bachelor party, but I’ll show you. We wanted to make sure to kill as many brain cells as possible for Y’s bachelor party so we headed to high altitude where we would get less oxygen. A bunch of the guys flew on over to Colorado and met for some general naughtiness. Good stories, none bad (except the 3 hour delayed flight, boo!), but my man card prevents me from divulging any of them. Regardless, here is one of the many amusing pictures from the river portion of our adventure.

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The complaint department has been inundated with people complaining about the lack of updates. Some days it is hard for me to even take a shower, so you understand that computer time is at a premium… and it is a premium I can ill afford. Case in point: I started this post on Monday.

That being said, I am going to get back to once a week posting about something because writing makes me sane, or at least less loony.

We have been busy doing the things one would expect when you have wee bairns at your ankles all day. Adjusting to 2 bairns is a nightmare some days, but worth it. Gideon already adores Wash and I am sure Wash will come to love those awkward hugs and fingers poking him; that or he will learn to give squeezy hugs and poke some eyeballs himself.

Caring for an infant the second time around has been a breeze. Having a three year old is a challenge, especially because he is bossy, head strong, opinionated, and smarter than he has a right to be. I can’t imagine who he most resembles. Ha!

Gideon is firmly entrenched in the do-it-yourself stage, unless of course he needs a hug or some snuggling. Kids are funny that way. While I applaud his independence, sometimes I really do need to do things for him and those battles are wearisome.

Gideon told me a few weeks ago that I was “mean.” Well, hallelujah, I must be doing something right.

This is a picture of Gideon playing in the pool at the family Lakehouse over Memorial Day.

News about Wash in a separate post and maybe a recipe soon if you are lucky.

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Today was one of those rare days in Houston at this time of year: There was a breeze with just a touch of cool, but the air had a latent heat and the sun was shinning. It is the kind of day made for Jimmy Buffet or Bob Marley and some frosty margaritas or good beer. We usually have a few, precious few, of these days before it gets so grotesquely hot that no one, not even the bugs, venture outside. The boys and I spent the morning at a friend’s house, playing in the sprinklers and enjoying the day.

While I write this, I am uploading some pictures of Gideon coloring eggs and I realized that I take a lot of pictures of him in underwear and nothing else. I would not be surprised if the internet thinks that I never dress my child. He does occasionally wear clothes, but he would go naked all the time if it was socially acceptable.

Before we had Washington, I was warned that going from one to two was hard. I started to be a little worried about my ability to cope, but I am glad now for the warning, otherwise I might have wondered who stole my easy, biddable child and replaced him with an argumentative, uncooperative toddler.

Gideon is a great kid, but he is almost three and the main employment of a three year old is figuring out what they think, what they can do, and what they can get away with. Having a smart almost three year old means I also have to content with his highly rational reasons for why he chose to do whatever thing he was not supposed to be doing. We have spent the last month in power struggles with Gideon over the silliest things. Unfortunately for Gideon, he is not in charge of this house or himself even for most things, and it has been a hard lesson for him and a harder lesson for us to continue to enforce.

I have, many days, vacillated between wanting to beat him or wanting to cry at the futility of parenting. (no, I do not beat my child though some days, I really want to!) With a lot of prayer and some careful time spent doing more activities with Gideon (that is all he really wants anyway, a 24 hour play-mate mom), things are improving. He still has his 3 year old moments, he is three after all, but we have more good days than bad now.

Wash is still a pretty wonderful newborn, sleeping and eating night and day away. He is such a different eater than Gideon; we are just starting to get into our groove. I love having a nurseling again. His legs have fattened up enough to start wearing his cloth diapers, thank goodness, and I am very happy about that as well.

Being momma to two boys has been interesting so far and I expect it will continue to be even more interesting as they both get older.

I snapped this last weekend when Ries and Wash took a snooze on the couch.

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It is certainly different, having two kids. I know that challenges will continue as they grow. Right now, just getting them both out of the house is a production.

Gideon has been taking the transition from only to sibling ok except that he has been really challenging our authority. He is finding out all the same rules still apply, much to his dismay, and there have been many more spankings and time outs then normal. I sometimes feel like I spend more time yelling at him than talking to him, which is frustrating for me.

We have spent a lot of time on the couch, reading Where the Sidewalk Ends, so I am hoping that counts for something at the end of the day. We have some very generous friends who have been feeding us and a couple of them have brought things for Gideon. The thing he loved the most was a bug catcher’s kit.

He used the book, net, and magnifying glass to look for bugs all day, for about three days in row. It was great and kept him very happy. Currently, in typical almost three-year-old fashion, he is yelling at me from his room, insisting that his quiet time is over and he is not tired.

Riiiiiight. I have heard that song and dance before. It is the kind of song and dance where your partner insists he is a great dancer, but than tromps all over your toes while bumping into all the other couples.

Wash is great. He sleeps at night, only getting up once around 2 or 3. I am actually getting some sleep. I thought babies who slept were an urban legend. Seriously. People make that stuff up to torture new parents. Gideon still wakes up a couple times a night. When Gideon was little he woke up like clockwork, at 10, 12, 2, 4 and was up at 5 or 6. And by little I mean for the first 6 or 7 months.

I am sure the sleep patterns will shift, but for now, I am getting enough sleep. Ries, who is in charge of Gideon at night, is not getting as much as he would like.

I feel incredibly blessed to be a mom, even though I mostly wonder what the heck I am doing. Plus, my boys are really very adorable.

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I wanted to have this post up earlier, but it has been busy around here. We are all adjusting, recuperating, and learning our roles all over again. Everything is so markedly different than last time. In many ways, we are parents for the first time again, since we have never really had a newborn at home before. Washington’s name was not a sure thing until we got to the birth center. I made an executive decision. We has been waffling between two names. We liked Washington, which was a unique first name, but not a name that was so weird no one would have heard of it. Nathanael is one of Ries’ middle names.

I prayed, and so did a lot of other people, that we would have a normal birth with a healthy baby and the Lord was very good to all of us. After a short 8 hours, Washington made his arrival on March 21st, the first day of Spring. We got to the birth center just in time, around 5:15 am and he made his appearance by 6 am sharp! I plan on writing a longer post about the labor and birth, but no today. Washington was born in the tub because that is where I happened to be!

Washington was helped into the world by the two ladies that were there for Gideon’s birth, Jackie Griggs and Camilla May, two wonderful midwives that have been huge blessing to our family. Ries was, as always, an awesome coach. Daddy was happy his son waited until the last basketball game was over Sunday night to start making his arrival known.

While I was being tended to, Ries took Washington out to meet his big brother and his Gammy and Gampa. Gideon asked why Wash was not talking yet. We stayed at the birth center for a few hours.

Washington and I were both fine, great actually, so after a few hours of rest and lunch, we all headed home. Here is a picture of us with Jackie before we left.

After getting home, Washington was surrounded by grandparents.
Washington and Papa

Washington and Oma

Gideon wants to hold, kiss, snuggle, and poke Wash at every opportunity. I know this will only get worse/better. Gideon is enamored of his little brother and does not seem too disappointed that Wash does not play with him yet. Gideon seems to be taking the addition in stride. He is enjoying having his Daddy home and the full attention from Daddy he has been getting. His tune may change when he is home alone with Momma in a couple weeks.

Our first day home, Washington also had visits from Aunt Katy, Uncle Keith, Cousin Kaiden, Uncle Christopher, and Aunt Sydney. We handed out bottles of homebrew to visitors and Ries toasted with a glass as well.

As I said in the beginning of this post, we are learning about newborns all over again. It has been fun having this tiny thing here with us. He eats like a champ, a marathon sucker like his brother, who thinks eating every 30-40 minutes is life or death. Good thing I am already used to that kind of eater. My milk came in yesterday, so Wash has been happily filling his belly.

He looks very different from Gideon at this age. I am looking forward to seeing his little personality as he gets older.

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Our new Brew Your Own Magazine came in the mail today. Gideon carried it inside, sat down on the couch, and told me he was reading about beer. Nothing gets by this kid.

His Gammy informed me today that while they were watching him on Friday he made a friend at their church, a girlfriend. While playing on the indoor playground, which is one of those play structures with a lot of tubes for climbing, he met a girl names Rachael from the 3 year old class.

Gideon and Rachael sat in the tube together with Rachael planted firmly in Gideon’s lap. I am told he had his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek when she left.